http://www.dailylife.com.au/
For parents or other people who are concerned about autism treatment in Australia, this is a very worrying development.
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A year from now, my six-year-old son will no longer have autism. But
I have not discovered a miracle cure - nor do I feel like jumping for
joy.
The criteria for an autism diagnosis, as defined by the
authors of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM), is about to change so dramatically that parents across the world
are fearful children classified as having high-functioning autism,
Asperger's syndrome or pervasive development disorder are likely to lose
their diagnosis - and with it, their therapy and educational
entitlements.
It is teachers who should be complaining the loudest.
They will be the ones left to manage untreated children with less help
from special needs staff because fewer children will be classified as
special needs.
Parents and psychologists fear the changes to the
diagnostic criteria are driven by an American government wanting to
reduce the rate at which autism is diagnosed - now one in 100 - so as to
reduce the cost of supporting services which help children with an
autism spectrum disorder (ASD) fit into society, and the classroom.
The clinicians on the DSM taskforce claim changes to the
manual will not change the rate of diagnosis. They argue they are simply
trying to reduce the subcategories and cover all afflicted children
with one blanket label, autism spectrum disorder, to achieve better
clarity on diagnosis.
But the devil lies in the detail of the changes between
the present manual and the proposed new manual, to come into effect next
year, and experts fear a large drop in the number of diagnoses.
A diagnosis of ASD, which can include the subcategories
such as Asperger's, is given if a child ticks enough boxes across three
categories of impairment - social interaction, speech and language, and
behaviour. Each category has four ''boxes''.
Now, a diagnosis of ASD is allowed if six of the 12
impairments are present, two of which must be impairments in social
interaction. Under the proposed changes, a child will need to have all
four social interaction deficiencies before a diagnosis is given. In the
second category, communication, a diagnosis now requires one
deficiency; under the changes, it will require two.
According to Professor Allen Francis, the chairman of the
taskforce responsible for the present manual, to gain a diagnosis,
there are 2688 possible combinations of the 12 deficiencies. However,
under the changes, there will be only six possible combinations. ''The
method of deriving the new DSM-5 criteria is suspect and its claim to be
rate neutral seems simply absurd,'' Frances wrote in the Huffington
Post.
And he is dead right. Diagnosis rates, especially for
high-functioning and Asperger's children, will fall dramatically. I
know my son ticks six of those 12 boxes, but under DSM-5, he will not
tick the right six boxes. He will be reclassified as having a ''social
disorder'', not an autism spectrum disorder. It won't change his
life; he has used his funding and successfully made the transition to
mainstream school.
But what will it do to an equally afflicted child who
fails to get a diagnosis in future? Will he learn to say ''mum'' and
look her in the eye? Will he learn to use his nice voice when talking to
his friends? Will he learn to share toys? Will he learn to cope with a
routine being thrown out? Will he be able to sit still in class, listen
and learn? Without therapy, probably not.
In Australia, a child diagnosed with any ASD is entitled
to funding of $12,000 over two years up to age six, paid directly to
service providers of multidisciplinary therapy. Such therapy may include
applied behaviour analysis (ABA) therapy, occupational therapy, and
speech therapy. It doesn't cover the cost, but it helps. The result of
the therapy, especially ABA, is priceless, often getting autistic
children across the line into mainstream schooling.
This funding means children are getting help when it
helps them most - ages two to five, when the brain is described as being
more ''plastic'' and thus more influenced by therapy. By the time they
get to school, provided they have their two years of therapy, a child
with autism but a normal IQ is often able to function in a normal
classroom environment (as long as no one moves his pencils out of
place). ABA teaches children to behave appropriately through the
consistent and exhaustive reinforcement of good behaviour over a
sustained period. It works.
Take therapy away, and Kindy Blue turns into Kindy Beirut pretty quickly.
Teachers and all parents should picture this: in 2018, a
teacher could be dealing with a child with untreated ''social disorder''
rolling around the floor and refusing to sit at his desk, not teaching
the other 19 neurologically normal children in the room.
The time to speak up is now.
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Ian again ...
My little bit of research says that Australia can either follow the US (as above) .... or use the European standards. These are more rational.
The decision is a political one .... so it is indeed the time to speak up!
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